A word about safety...

Good reminder for everyone!  Working in the nuclear power industry we are constantly barraged with safety reminders and for good reason!  Having a hobby farm i'm always aware of equipment that can cause serious injury and just try and slowdown and think.  But when building benchwork i've slammed my thumb, gotten a sliver or banged my head more times than i care to admit. Go figure. 

My suggestion is to always wear safety glasses when doing any model construction or repair.

MELGAR

I have a older pair of safety glasses with side shields from work and use them at all times when cutting track or grinding metal. Overhead soldering a baseball cap and safely goggles to prevent burns and eyes from solder spatter.  Soldering guns or irons fusion is by  molten metal can cause sever burns and  x-acto knife blades and stanley(utility) knives can cause sever cuts. Many of us used PPE or lock out/tag out procedures at work for our safety. Many of these same procedures can be used at home for all projects including modeling railroading to prevent personal injury.

@John Ochab posted:

I have a older pair of safety glasses with side shields from work and use them at all times when cutting track or grinding metal. Overhead soldering a baseball cap and safely goggles to prevent burns and eyes from solder spatter.  Soldering guns or irons fusion is by  molten metal can cause sever burns and  x-acto knife blades and stanley(utility) knives can cause sever cuts. Many of us used PPE or lock out/tag out procedures at work for our safety. Many of these same procedures can be used at home for all projects including modeling railroading to prevent personal injury.

Don't forget a hard hat and steel toe safety shoes.

I remember reaching deep across the upper level of my original HO layout when I was in my teens to reach a car in the yard and laid my arm across an active mainline.  While the 18V DC certainly wouldn't hurt me seriously, it sure gave me quite a shock in more ways than one!

However, I do not want to make light of this subject.  When working on model trains, safety should be a consideration.  We use tools that are dangerous, play with electricity, and use resins or paint that can be quite caustic.  All kidding aside, I do take this seriously.  When remodeling my first house in my 20's I was working on a 110 receptacle I swore that I had the breaker off for.  I did not and then I really swore! 

Well many years ago I rerouted a 220v dryer line and cut the wrong wire which was a live 110vac line.  This made wire strippers out of a perfectly good set of wire cutters. I had safety glasses on.

Then there was the time I was working on a black and decker variable speed switch on a drill and put a small flat blade screwdriver through my finger. 

Three days before my last day at work I tripped on an air hose I had walked by several times a day for 5 years.  Luckily there was a non slip mat to somewhat cushion the fall.  A lot of paperwork to fill out.

Fell off a ladder using a chainsaw to cut a tree.

Stuff happens. 

@GG1 4877 posted:

I remember reaching deep across the upper level of my original HO layout when I was in my teens to reach a car in the yard and laid my arm across an active mainline.  While the 18V DC certainly wouldn't hurt me seriously, it sure gave me quite a shock in more ways than one!

However, I do not want to make light of this subject.  When working on model trains, safety should be a consideration.  We use tools that are dangerous, play with electricity, and use resins or paint that can be quite caustic.  All kidding aside, I do take this seriously.  When remodeling my first house in my 20's I was working on a 110 receptacle I swore that I had the breaker off for.  I did not and then I really swore!

I can remember being about 9 or 10 and I had gotten a new engine or something. We had recently moved in to a new house and the “train board” was still stored against the wall in the garage as mom and dad were still figuring out where to put things. Well, I had to try out that new engine, so I begged mom to let me throw together a little oval of track in the dining room. Against her better judgement she relented and said it all better be cleaned up by dinner.  I went to work but in my haste to try and escape my mother’s ire, while plugging in the transformer I slipped and only one blade went in while the other one bent sideways. Well that one was now touching my finger and boy did I get zapped.

Needless to say mom got her dining room floor back and the trains went into storage for a while.

At around 13 I was working on my layout and reached across to pick up something and laid my fore arm on a very hot soldering iron. Interestingly no pain (I guess I burned out those nerves) heard a sizzle and had and interesting shaped depression in my arm. Took a few years for the scar to heal.

Not exactly train related or modelling , but I used to be in Textiles , and part of my routine on a Sunday night was to fire up the big Maxitherm boiler which supplied the whole factory ( Yes I had a boiler certificate lol) She was a beast of a thing , nearly brand new and 2 storeys high!

One day I was attempting to fire it and the darn thing just wouldn't light .. would go thru all the safety checks , engage the pilot flow, trigger the high voltage spark unit , but the pilot just wouldn't catch , I could hear it sparking like a demon , but no flameage.

About 2/3 up the boiler lower level there is an inspection window where you can look into the burn chamber to observe going ons, so I set it to start another auto ignition sequence with the mind set that if I couldn't see what was wrong it was time to call out the service company. So you stand on this little ledge on tippytoes to look in , but the overhead fluorescent lights were producing too much glare so I cupped my hand to the top of the window to look in ... its probably important to note this placed my hand within a few inches of the ignition cable , not a problem as it is contained in a sheath , however unbeknownst to me a rather large and insistent rat had gnawed thru the grounding sheath, the rubber insulation right down to the solid copper core ... Hence when it auto-fired the boiler spark, 100,000V leaped straight onto my hand ... I remember literally flying, and I hit the roller door to the boiler room on the full  12 feet up and 15 feet behind me ...Now comes the scary bit , because as I lay there on the boiler room floor , it was completely silent , so silent I in fact realised my heart was no longer beating .. it is a very weird feeling indeed , I could not move, make a noise , my mind was hyper aware however and time was elongating what were seconds felt like minutes , after what seemed a few minutes , but was likely seconds I distinctly remember me shouting at myself in my head to my heart, excuse the french but it was " START YOU effing ******* ! Effing START! " ... and after a few cycles of that ... It did! hit me like a hammer in my chest then it felt like a big old carp was flopping around in there...  I lay on the floor another 10 minutes ( I know this because eventually one of my workers came in to see why I hadn't got the steam happening yet ) I still couldn't move much but I managed to slur "hmmbulunce" ... The Paramedics were there in a few minutes after that , and pretty much just threw me in the back and planted the foot to the hospital ... Amazingly after about 4 hours I came pretty good ( able to speak and move) but I had a third degree lightning trail from below my pinky to my wrist and a contact burn where it exited from my foot ( blowing my steel cap boot apart and off my foot in the process )  I spent 24 hours in hospital for observation on a cardiac monitor , and was deemed fit to leave for home , however the treating doctor insisted I have at least three weeks off work and return to him before he would sign off on me ... I thought that rather excessive I felt great! , however he was completely right , for the next 2 weeks , I felt 100% , my burns didn't really hurt much and were almost healed  , and every muscle was sore , but my brain had the most annoying habit of forgetting things , not to do stuff , but actual things , like names of everyday items ...  My best mate came and stayed at my place for those weeks , and I was a constant source of entertainment for him

"Ollie? would you like a ... ermmm you know , ermm the things you put tea in ?? a ..errr"

" A CUP mate?"

"yeah that's it , would you like a cup of tea?"

The last incident before my brain fully rebooted was he caught me standing at the door to the porch , and asked if I was ok ...I just looked at him " Look I KNOW its a door ... but its got a weird handle and I cant get out ?"

"Ummm its a SLIDING door mate .. push it SIDEWAYS ...."

By week 3 you would never know LOL ... back to 100% and cleared both to work and drive , although to this day I still have a jitter in my left ring finger if I stretch the finger of my hand out and try and keep it steady....it has a mind of its own ,but only doing that , otherwise its 100% good for anything , even fine motor skill ... just when its at rest under a slight tension it shimmies its arse off LOL

Be safe kiddies!!!

Wow FATMAN, glad you are ok.  Quite the ordeal.  Bet your company has a good exterminator service now?  

Wow, indeed!

I installed 10 of these street lights on the layout. They are really a string of Christmas lights. I’ve used them for years but put them away. I decided to use them again. I bench tested them and all ok.

I powered them with a new 12 volt power pack. It works great but it needs an inline fuse. I was tired and wanted to run trains so I left the inline fuse for the next day.

As I was running trains one of the lights somehow shorted and was melting down. The lantern had fallen off and about half the pole was melted. Had I fused it first this wouldn’t have happened. 😩

@Farmall-Joe posted:

Good reminder for everyone!  Working in the nuclear power industry we are constantly barraged with safety reminders and for good reason!  Having a hobby farm i'm always aware of equipment that can cause serious injury and just try and slowdown and think.  But when building benchwork i've slammed my thumb, gotten a sliver or banged my head more times than i care to admit. Go figure.

Joe where did you work in the power industry?

Ron

@GG1 4877 posted:

I remember reaching deep across the upper level of my original HO layout when I was in my teens to reach a car in the yard and laid my arm across an active mainline.  While the 18V DC certainly wouldn't hurt me seriously, it sure gave me quite a shock in more ways than one!

I imagine a piece of jewelry or metal watch band shorting the rails could quickly get hot enough to cause a bad burn.

After years and years in manufacturing, safety needs constant reminders.  There is no magic other than take time to remind people. 

My first safety lesson.   6 years old running a lionel train at my neighbors.  A strait pin fell on the track and wasn't enough to trip the breaker.   Tried to pick up the pin after it had glowed red. 

Steam engine linkage and little ones that like to stick fingers in places.  First lesson they learn, do not touch a moving train.   And then a little discipline when they immediately ignore it.   

@BobbyD posted:

I imagine a piece of jewelry or metal watch band shorting the rails could quickly get hot enough to cause a bad burn.

On the first day of a class at Sheppard AFB on a military telephone system, the instructor put up a photo of a finger lying on a table. It was just a finger with no hand attached to it. The instructor explained this can happen when wearing a ring that instantly fuses across the high-current 24 VDC rack power backplane to reach super-hot, searing temperatures. It was an unforgettable effective message. I have not tested my ring on a train transformer!

Years ago in the steel mill, I worked on a narrow gauge RR there.  We had used a steel cable to re-rail some cars.  Went to hang up the cable it accidentally it touched a metal power box which we did not know had a short.  The 220 volts sent me across the room.  A simple mistake that I have always avoided since that time.  Never Assume, you know what the word assume means.  It make an *** out out you and me.

@Bruce Brown posted:

On the first day of a class at Sheppard AFB on a military telephone system, the instructor put up a photo of a finger lying on a table. It was just a finger with no hand attached to it. The instructor explained this can happen when wearing a ring that instantly fuses across the high-current 24 VDC rack power backplane to reach super-hot, searing temperatures. It was an unforgettable effective message. I have not tested my ring on a train transformer!

As a licensed electrician, I never wear my ring when working. Explaining that to my new bride 33 years ago was interesting. 😁

Bob

Saw in the news a crew was installing gutters some where and it contacted the power lines. I believe the two guys at the top were hurt along with three on the ground. At work we had a flashover and even with the cabinet door partially closed he was severely burned on his arms and face. May have been 480?

How many of you remember the ads on radio and TV warning you about blasting caps?  There was even a short movie made about them at least  a half century ago where a kid find one and brings it home.   There was a time that you could go to just about any small town hardware store and buy a couple sticks of dynamite for stumps and beaver dams.  Heck, they'd probably call Homeland Security if you walked in the ACE and asked where the dynamite was today.

I have never have or will ever wear a ring. I was a mechanic for most of my life including the time I spent in the Army. Saw a few Army safety films that showed that wearing a ring could easily get your finger ripped or burned off.  After I told my wife this she never questioned why I wouldn't buy or wear a ring.

We'll have been married 39 years this coming November.

I picked a broken piece of Dremel cut off wheel out of my cheek one evening. It stung.

Dick

Reminds me of a time in the late 40's when we had a breakfast nook with a very convenient electrical outlet.  My five year old brother stuck a pair of tweezers in it.  What a flash !! - and shortened tweezers.  Fortunately his reaction to let go of the tweezer was quick enough that he didn't get burned.

As for myself, I'm fortunate that I've needed glasses since fourth grade, probably has many time saved me from eye damage.  Now I'm a bit more cautious and always put on my Optivisors when I use a soldering iron of the Dremel.

Those wire brushes are a subtle safety hazard.  Their loose wires can get caught in anything.  I once found one in my foot when I went to bed.  It had been picked up from the work area floor by my socks and transmitted to my foot.  The best remedy for that is a fine pair of tweezers, manual dexterity and a magnifying glass.

ML

This is starting to remind me of the old Saturday Night Live skit where the two security guards are relating stories of self-torture.